Introduction

Steel Specifications – the Website Edition

This Website - and the information contained within it - is the latest successor to the UK steel industry book “Steel Specifications”.

One of the earliest editions of the original book was published in 1959 by Thomas Firth and John Brown Limited.  Various editions followed, published by independent steel producers, and then British Steel Corporation, before the co-ordination was taken over by the trade association UK Steel.  The latest (11th edition) of the Steel Specifications Book was published in February 2004.

The purpose of the information contained in the various versions of the Steel Specifications publication is to provide a means of interpreting and summarising British, European, some other International and selected proprietary grades of steel in terms of their chemical composition and mechanical and physical properties.  The data have been extracted from the relevant standards, for which acknowledgement is made, and it is emphasised that for complete details, reference to the published standard is essential.

The data are presented in tabular with notes appended for explanation and qualification. Where possible, the tables are set out in a consistent manner with abbreviations and symbols having common meanings.  This is not always possible, as the reference standards are not always consistent in this respect.

Having identified a steel product in terms of its designation and standards reference, it is often necessary to establish its availability.  This website provides a link to information on steel producers in the UK who are members of UK Steel and to stockholders who are owned and operated by those steel producers.  The link also indicates, in summary form, what steel products the producers manufacture.

Standards are continually revised and new standards introduced.  The data in this website version were extracted from standards current at October 2002 and will be updated periodically as significant changes in the base Standards are made.

UK Steel

The UK Steel Division of EEF is the trade association for the UK steel industry.  It represents the industry to policy and opinion formers, promotes the industry and the importance of steel to the public, and provides information and services to its members.  Over 95% of UK steel producing companies, and many UK steel processing companies, are members of UK Steel.

UK Steel has an active participation in the development of national, European and international standards for steel products.  The technical manager co-ordinates the industry’s representation at BSI, leads and co-ordinates the industry’s view and position on standards matters to BSI, in Europe, to government departments and other organisations which have an interest in steel and standardisation.

British Standards Institution

The role of BSI Standards is to facilitate the development of national standards and to co-ordinate and facilitate the UK input to European and international standardisation.  BSI provides the rules of procedures, technical secretarial support, meeting rooms, publication and associated services, and government grants.  BSI is the UK member of the European and international standards bodies, namely CEN (the European Committee for Standardisation), ECISS (European Committee for Iron & Steel Standardisation), ISO (International Standards Organisation), and CENELEC (covering European Co-ordination of Electrical standards).

British Standards

British Standards include the BS series, BS EN series (discussed further below) and BS aerospace series.  It will be evident that some well-known British Standards are missing, e.g. BS 4360, because they have been replaced by a European Standard. Others are radically revised, such as BS 970 which has been replaced by PD 970, since many of the steels in the original standard are now included in European Standards.

European Standards

European Standards published in the UK have the status of a British Standard and are characterised by the prefix ‘BS EN’ to their reference number.  Other national standards bodies of Member States of the European Union publish identical European Standards with their appropriate prefixes, e.g. in Germany, ‘DIN EN’, in France ‘NF EN’, in Sweden ‘SIS EN’ etc.  European Standards are essentially voluntary instruments except for certain situations, e.g. Public Procurement Directives, Construction Products Directive.  According to the CEN rules, members in the UK, that is BSI, are obliged to announce the availability of European Standards and publish the identical text and to withdraw any conflicting national standards.

European Standards for steel products are the responsibility of the European Committee for Iron and Steel Standardisation (ECISS).  ECISS has the task of developing European Standards for the definition, classification, testing, analysis and technical delivery requirements for the products of the iron and steel industry and the implementation of these as national standards by members in order to achieve technical harmonisation within the European Union.  ECISS is an Associated Standards Body within the framework of the European Committee of Standardisation (CEN).  ECISS operates according to its own Internal Regulations, which align substantially with those of CEN, particularly in respect of membership, working language, representation and the procedures for the development and approval of standards.  Standards developed and approved by ECISS are submitted to CEN for its formal vote and ratification and subsequent implementation by national standards bodies.

This Steel Specifications website version includes many European Standards, some of which replace or partly replace familiar, but now withdrawn British Standards.

With so many European Standards specifying steel and steel products and replacing national standards, it is necessary to have a European designation system for steel.  Such a system is well established and implemented in almost all the European Standards covered in this website.  A section within this website explains the system and gives examples.

International Standards

International standards, that is ISO Standards, are not included to any great degree because steel products are not normally specified to ISO Standards.  However, European Standards are influenced during their development by ISO Standards and some align, most notably in the areas of testing methods and chemical analysis. The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) can and does adopt ISO Standards, such as the quality management systems standards, the ISO 9000 series, being adopted as the EN ISO 9000 series.

American standards

Data from American standards, covering selected ASTM and UNS/SAE/AISI/ASTM standards are included.  While these are only a selection of American standards in the field of steel products, the extent of their inclusion and relevance to this site will be reviewed periodically.

Equivalence

In view of the global market for steel products the question of equivalent grades of steel is frequently raised.  This website does not give equivalent specifications.  Care should be taken in deciding on an equivalent grade of steel and practical experience and metallurgical expertise is necessary.  Advice on such matters can be obtained from a variety of publications and, in particular, from contacts given in the linked list of Steel Industry Advisory Services.

UK steel industry proprietary steels

Data from over 150 UK steel industry proprietary steels are included in this website, and are identified by their brand names.  Data are shown in terms of significant chemical elements, application and mechanical and physical properties.  The steel producer is identified so that contact details can be obtained from the linked list of UK Steel Members.  Reference should be made to the appropriate steel producer for full details of the steel.